Lifting the veil
by Kenpachi Ikari
Summary: What would you do if you found out that the world as you know it, was nothing more than a science experiment? With any luck, Tensai would make sure that none of them found out.


Omega, the tail end of the galaxy where dreams are made in one day, and crushed in the next hour. Ruled by the de facto leader Aria T'loak, a powerful and feared Asari mastermind whom none dare cross. She is Omega's queen, if you're feeling dramatic, and all bow to her will if they know what's good for them. The Krogan saying is that Omega is 'the land of opportunity', while the Turians call it the 'land without law'. Both conflict with one another, and yet both are completely true, just how Aria likes it. She rules from atop her throne in Afterlife, the best club in all of Omega, the only club if you ask the majority of Omega's population.

If you are lucky, you might catch a small glimpse of her if you are in just the right spot to look up from the dance floor. If you are unlucky, you might be 'escorted' to see her by her Batarian body guard Grizz. Not that she even needs a bodyguard, being one of the strongest biotics on Omega, but she has one to deal with things she doesn't feel like dealing with at that time.

If that wasn't enough, people who came to Omega rarely, if ever, arrived without her knowing about it and knowing their entire history within an hour of their arrival. Hell, she may even know your history better than you do when you arrive, and that's just a formality. And if she felt you were dangerous in the least, or enough to garner an inch of her attention, she had you brought to her and laid down her one simple rule. "Don't Fuck with Aria", something that many people obeyed without question.

There were no exceptions to her rule, and if it was broken, it was dealt with swiftly and mostly ended in a very bloody clean-up. 'Well, there was almost no exceptions' Aria thought to herself, as she sipped from her glass, a Turian spirit that she could not recall the name of that actually managed to leave a good burn in her throat. If Aria was to tell the truth, there were only a handful of people that had crossed her that she allowed to live. This list consisted of the Patriarch, a Krogan Warlord that used to rule Omega before she _**persuaded**_ him to resign and work for her.

The next would be Commander Shepard, someone who Aria found herself coming to respect for the most part, if not loathe for the trouble she tends to leave in her wake. The last one however, was currently sitting in front of her, staring off onto the dance floor with a look of utter boredom on his brown face, one of his hands propping up his head while the other nursed a half glass of the same Turian spirits that she was drinking.

He was another human that had managed to cross Aria and live a few years ago. Something that was not lost on the populace as rumors started to circulate that she had a human fetish. Those rumors were quickly squashed, and the offending party were quickly shipped off of Omega to goddess knows where. There was a reason she hadn't tried to kill him when he arrived to her today, and it's because she had attempted to have him killed before, three times actually and each had failed spectacularly. Aria could still remember it vividly.

The first time was a simple assassination that she had ordered done countless times, a sniper in a shady apartment waited for him to pop out before splitting his skull with a high caliber incendiary round to leave no facial records. She was later contacted that day by the sniper she had sent via vidcom on her omnitool, which she found strange because she never called Aria through video.

Nearly as soon as she answered the call, Aria regretted it as she saw her sniper without her helmet on, an Asari Commando that she had recruited half a century ago, bent over the island that separated the kitchen from the living room in the apartment. Her pants and lingerie were pulled down her legs and she was screaming for the goddess as her target plowed into her from behind, a wicked smile on his face as not once did he break eye contact with the vidscreen, as if challenging her to try again. Aria growled into the call and ended it just as he pulled out of her dripping box and shot his load towards the screen, that smile never leaving his face.

Of course she tried again, this time employing the Blood pack and it's vorcha to just rush him. She knew of the brutality of the Blood pack, and told them to inflict as much pain without killing him as possible, and to bring him to her alive so that she could personally snap his neck. She had been very angry that day, especially since the same sniper that she had sent after him had tried to weasel her way out of Aria's employ.

When Aria refused, the sniper in a fit of what Aria calls sheer stupidity had pulled her sniper out and threatened her. Aria didn't even break a sweat as her biotics had flared to life and she had thrown the girl face first into Grizz's waiting shotgun barrel, the clean-up had probably been the more annoying part of it. She had found a letter address to her from the human that was fucking her sniper, which practically told her in detail that he knew she was going to kill the sniper and that he found it funny that she turned so easily from Aria.

It took three days for Aria to finally get any type of response from the Blood Pack. Aria was sitting in her chair, reading over the recent smuggling reports for some backwater group that wanted to garner favor with her, when the music in Omega suddenly stopped and she heard people gasping in shock. Annoyed, she stood up from her seat to look down at the crowd to see what was going on, what she saw unnerved her.

A Krogan clad in the armor of the Blood Pack was standing in the midst of the crowds, cradling what appeared to be half of another Krogan in his arms. Aria quickly rushed down to the scene, her bodyguards in tow, to assess the situation and dispersed the crowd as soon as she arrived. The Krogan took one look at her, and she saw the fire leave his eyes as he dropped to his knees and placed the half Krogan at her feet. A note was attached to his back, written in black ink. Grizz picked it up and turned it over so that Aria could read it.

" _Blood Pack members are for use in blunt force tactics my dear, employing them to come after me was a very grave misuse of their abilities. If I had been a turian with well-grounded military training, or even an asari that focused more on stealth or disruption, they would have been a very good choice. Alas, I am a tactician and they were nothing more than gnats being tossed against a maelstrom. Yet, I think it is high time that you and I were to meet face to face with one another so that I can ascertain exactly why you see fit to try and have me eliminated, with warm regards_ " Grizz read, before having the note snatched out of his hands from Aria, watching as her biotics flared dangerously and the ball of paper was quickly disintegrated.

If that's the way he wanted to play, Aria had no qualms about killing him when he arrived. She would kill him personally, cleanly and discreetly so as to make sure the job was done to her satisfaction. She nodded to Grizz, whom told the Krogan to get lost, but not before one final surprise stunned her even more. When the Krogan didn't move, Aria cleared her throat to get his attention. When the Krogan didn't even look up at her, her biotics flared and she pushed him back in a fit of anger at the disrespect. His body seemed to explode at the contact, coating those close to it with blood and intestines. Aria could do nothing more than shield her face from the mess, her cloths being coated in the gory Krogan leftovers. Grizz and her bodyguards managed to take a few steps back from her, before she ordered everyone out of Afterlife. Something she had not done in years, and that was when she had fought the Krogan Patriarch. When it was just her, her bodyguards and her thoughts, she pushed the note to the furthest reaches of her mind. Fuck meeting him, fuck playing by his game and fuck being nice. He had crossed the line three times, and broken the one rule on Omega thrice.

Staring at her omnitool, she sent the order out the next day, his face was on nearly every screen of Omega with a bounty on his head for nearly the price of an Alliance Frigate, and she waited. She waited to get either a call from someone who caught him, a video from someone who killed him, or for someone to drag his sorry carcass into her vision. There was nowhere he could escape her, Omega was her domain and if she wanted you dead, you might as well space yourself.

A cruel twisted smile danced across her face, and she raised her glass of Turian spirit to sip from it, only to notice that it was already empty. Funny, she didn't remember taking a single sip, nor could she feel the burn in her throat. Before she could voice her annoyance, she felt her cup slowly starting to refill. "Why did it take so long to refill my glass?" She asked, annoyance evident in her voice. Just another person she would have to teach after this business was done, why good help was so hard to find she will always wonder.

"My apologies, I had a bit of trouble finding my way in here and didn't have time to pour you a drink beforehand" was the nonchalant reply, followed by a low dark chuckle. Her lips stopped at the edge of the glass, her eyes widened slightly and her heart started to race. She lowered the glass slowly, her arm tense and her mouth closed in a thin line. She swept her eyes to her side and she felt the room go slightly colder. Standing there with the bottle in hand, a smile on his brown face, and dressed in a full body Tuxedo, was the very man that she had all of Omega scouring for.

Aria did not take her eyes off him, even as he went to pour himself a drink and took a seat on the couch next to her. She normally would have blasted him quickly with her biotics before snapping his neck, but she found herself slightly curious. There were questions she wanted answers to, and she had the time to ask them before she made him a red stain on her floor.

"How did you manage to get in here" She questioned, remembering every nook and cranny of her make-shift throne room. There was no way she wouldn't have seen him coming since it overlooks the dance floor, and she has guards on either side of the only entrance. Not to mention all of Omega out looking for him all over the station.

"Hmmm, a bit tart for my taste, but it has a very good burn. I might find myself addicted to this" He said calmly, staring down at the glass in his hand. Aria had to contain herself as to not growl in annoyance, how he dared ignore her when she asked him a question. He spoke before she had allowed herself to give in to her anger.

"It wasn't hard with my face all over the place. Easier to blend in when others are searching for you. And to avoid them, you just have to go to the one place that they would never think to look, right into the Lion's den." He calmly said, swishing the Turian brandy around in the glass he was drinking from.

"Makes sense, but still doesn't explain how you got passed Grizz and the rest on the way in here" Aria replied, watching his features and trying to figure out the best way to kill him that would satisfy her most. He looked down at his drink again and sniffed at it, before setting it down on the sill of the window and staring off into the distance.

"I was already here since yesterday, waiting in the crowd to see just who it was that wanted me dead. I was sincere in my note mind you, that I really did want to meet and see this business of ours concluded. You really didn't have to burn it up, it took me nearly an hour to word it correctly" He spoke absentmindedly, not even looking over towards her in the slightest.

That bit of disrespect seemed to break Aria's last strand of self-containment. Her biotics flickered to life and with the power of a warhead, Aria used them to charge and slam into him. His face showed surprise as he was sent flying into the wall. In one fluid motion that she was familiar with Aria launched a singularity towards the dazed man. He seemed to sober up but didn't have enough time to dodge before he was pull off his feet and into the air.

Aria smirked at his helpless form, and the look of sheer fury on his face. With a practiced flick of her wrist, she sent a warp into the singularity which would cause it to explode and eviscerate its captive. It was so easy for her, too easy if she had thought about it. Just as the warp had made contact with the singularity, if she had been watching attentively, she would have noticed his look of fury morph into a smug grin. Aria covered her eyes from the explosion and smiled behind her hand at the sound of a thud against the floor.

She could hear footsteps rushing upstairs, meaning that Grizz and her guards were coming in. She brought her hand down to get one last look at what was left of her foe, only to stare wide-eyed as he stood there with a smile on his face. Her biotics flared to life once more, but he was quicker than she had anticipated. By the time her skin had started to glow blue, he was upon her.

A shard of glass was quickly pressed against her neck and his hand had grabbed and twisted her arm behind her. She saw Grizz and her bodyguards standing at the entrance, guns drawn and at the ready. All she had to do was find a way to reverse their positions, and he would just be a lump of charred remains.

"You live up to the talk, that biotic charge of yours nearly killed me." He said softly, his hot breath tickling her ear as he spoke. She strained to look over her shoulder and at his face, for any type of way she could easily disarm him. Then a thought hit her, he was a man after all. Something she was used to molding and getting them to do whatever she wanted them to. All it took was a few suggestive movements, a promise of no harm and a fun time afterwards, and he was as good as dead. Aria eased herself into his grasp, making sure to rub up against him in a slow manner.

"I'm impressed, that charge would have killed a Krogan, not even counting the singularity or the warp combination. I would love to know how you managed to get away." She spoke softly and calmly, waiting for him to take the bait. She could see a grin form on his face, and nodded at Grizz and her bodyguards to lower their weapons.

"Well, I have quite a bit of endurance and stamina my dear. The tricky part was waiting till the exact moment they crossed to make my escape" He laughed, slightly irking Aria to abandon her plan and try to eviscerate him right there. But she managed to keep her cool, eyeing him seductively.

"Well, I would love to see just how much stamina you have" She flirted, winking at him as best she could in his grip. She would have laughed if she could at the way his gaze seemed to take in her body, and the smile on his face widened. He was so easy to play, and he was already in her web. All she had to do was inject the venom and finish him off.

Before he could reply to her, a beeping noise started to sound off in the room. Grizz brought his weapon back up, along with the rest of Aria's bodyguards and trained them all on the stranger. In one fluid motion, he removed the shard of glass from Aria's neck and pushed her towards her bodyguards. Grizz cushioned her momentum, and she used that to turn around and throw out a quick warp at the intruder, all while her bodyguards released a hail of bullets at him.

He stood there, a smirk on his features as the bullets rained down on him. None of them connecting with him, instead they seemed to crash in midair against a hidden object. Even her warp seemed to fizzle and die before it could cross the threshold to be effective. She waved for her men to stop firing, giving a hard glare to this stranger, knowing that the next move was his to make despite her efforts. Yet, instead of doing anything, he simply looked at his omnitool, which had turned a dark shade of blue. He placed his hand to his ear and a look of annoyance showed on his face.

"This is not the best time to call, I'm in the middle of negotiations at the moment" he spoke, his eyes shooting over to look at Aria. She stared back at him, cocking her hip to the side and placing her hand on it, a disgusted sneer on her lips.

"Yes, I know that much, it won't be a problem if you don't bring yourself into this. No, I haven't seen her nor will I seek her out. She decided to follow me for some god awful reason that I will NOT get into with you right now." His conversation continued, and Aria felt the room start to heat up just a bit. Her eyes narrowed as he looked away from her and walked over to the far left of her couch and took a seat. He was ignoring her again, and making himself too damn comfortable.

Aria walked towards him and hesitated when she remembered how the bullets and her warp had dissipated. Would she also meet the same force that stopped their bullets and biotics, or would she pass along it harmlessly. His eyes darted back to hers, and he smirked at her as he nodded. Angrily, Aria continued her walk towards him, noting that nothing seemed to have impeded her in the slightest.

"Yes, I will take care of it soon, as long as you stay out of my way this time and allow me to actually complete what it was I set out to do. No, I didn't take anything when I left except the K.U.D.O.S that I built to test my theory. Was it a success?" He spoke, turning his eye back to Aria and looking her up and down with an observational eye.

"Yes, I would like to say it was. Yet, it seems time is more complex than I thought it would be, so there are some slight variants in the- wait, I don't have time to sit and chat! I have things to do, goodbye. I said goodbye MOTHER!" He nearly shouted as he removed his hand from his ear. Aria had taken a seat at her couch, looking at the stranger as though he had grown another head.

He looked pointedly at Aria before he spoke next, his voice level and calmer. "Do you mind if we dispense with the hostilities and instead focused on the reason why you had me targeted, I truly wish to know what I did to upset the mighty Aria T'loak.".

Aria didn't understand why she had to explain herself, but as she had yet to come up with another option in their current situation to get rid of him. "A few weeks ago, a warehouse that contained something of interest to me was raided and destroyed. From the security bots and cameras, your face showed up meaning you had broken the one rule on Omega" She said firmly, her lips pressed thin. Grizz and his cohorts still had their guns trained on the brown man in the Tuxedo.

"I assure you Ms.T'loak, I didn't mean any offense to you or to break your one rule. I was a very unwilling captive in that warehouse, and I decided that my departure there was long overdue. So I simply excused myself from the premises, and they put up a struggle to try and keep me there. Suffice to say, it ended up with the warehouse in ruin and the people there dead." He answered calmly, picking up another glass from atop her private fridge and the long forgotten Turian spirit from across the room where it had fallen but not broken.

Aria had not been aware that there were human captives in that warehouse, which she had given to the Blue Sun for their drug trafficking scheme. As long as she got her cut, it was of no consequence to her and yet, she still did not like the idea of trafficking people, no matter how many times it had come up in her reports on Omega.

"But, I was on my way to Omega anyway, so it wasn't as much of a hassle as I had thought. And it got me an audience with you, so it makes things quite easier for me" He chuckled, looking out into the club as the people had started to dance once more. Aria tensed herself, ready for any form of attack that he could send at her. He never moved and continued to stare out onto the dance floor.

Before Aria could say something else, she saw his eyes light up and a smile appeared on his face. "And it seems that my reason for coming here has finally decided to show herself." He said softly, downing the rest of the Turian spirit in his hand. Aria looked out into the dance floor, and saw it bustling with people even after the sound of gunfire had erupted, what else would she expect from the people of Omega.

"That Asari dancer there, the one with the huge tits and the red dye in her hair. Is it hair or are they actually tentacles, or something of the sort?" He said suddenly, drawing Aria's attention back to him while he looked at her head in contemplation. Aria stayed silent, instead intensifying her glare at him as a response to his question. He didn't seem to take it seriously as he simply stood up and dusted himself off..

"She's a new dancer I just hired a few weeks ago. Barely rakes in enough to actually live here, but she apparently manages with some side work." Aria said softly, trying to recall information that was passed along to her in one of her reports. Now that she thought about it, the reports did say that she looked as though she was always trying to keep a low profile, to the point where she barely left the house and mostly ordered things delivered but never from the same place twice in a row.

"What's your business with her? I tend to be protective of those under my employ" Aria spoke calmly, keeping Grizz's team in her sights in case she wanted them to open fire once again. He turned to her, a look of contemplation on his face. He crossed his arms and closed his eyes, his right hand stroking his chin in a manner of thinking.

"What would you say if I told you that she was not who she seemed? That she was someone that was a rather dangerous individual?" He spoke calmly, pacing slowing between the couch and his only exit out of the room. Aria laughed, for the first time since he was here she had laughed. "Nobody works near me unless I know everything about them. I even know more about the Council's SPECTRE's when they arrive here than the Council themselves." Aria boasted, but it earned nothing more than a nod from him.

"What if I could prove that you don't know anything about her? You said she just showed up a few weeks ago right, and that she is very secretive? Tell me, have there been any unusual deaths lately?" He asked, stopping his pace to stare directly at Aria, his hands coming to rest at his sides as he spoke.

"This is Omega, there is no such thing as an unusual death. People wind up dead every few hours, take your pick of the corpses." Aria responded, leaning back on her couch and folding her hands in her lap. ' _Does he not know how Omega works? What does he even mean by unusual deaths_?' Aria thought to herself, curiosity starting to well up inside of her.

"Hmm, you have a point about the staggering body count this place has. But, what I mean is have there been deaths that looked professional, almost to the point of hired hits like the one you tossed at me?" He countered, his eyes scanning her face for any breakages. Aria was a queen of poker faces however, and did not even seem to budge at his direct questioning.

"Once again, this is Omega and it's not unusual. If you are saying that she is an assassin, then it's of no concern to me as long as she is smart about it. Hell, I need a new assassin now anyway thanks to you" Aria retorted, her anger starting to rise up once more about his line of questioning. The man looked away from her and then down at his Omni tool before sighing and turning away from her.

"Then I guess I just have to show you instead. I will be taking my leave now, you may watch if you wish to" He said softly, walking up to Grizz and his companions. Their guns never left him, even as he stared them down.

"Let him go, I want to see what exactly he is talking about" Aria said, nodding at Grizz as they parted for him to walk past them. The man turned around and shot an appreciative grin at Aria before walking past her guards and down the stairs towards the dance floor. Aria stood from her seat and turned to stare out of her window into the club, quickly catching his visage moving like water through the bustling crowd.

He stopped at the table where the Asari he had mentioned was dancing atop to entertain a Turian patron, her back turned to him as she showed off her ass. He tapped the Turian on the shoulder to get his attention and bent down to whisper something in his ear, before she saw their hands exchange a credit chit and the Turian seemed to smile and walk away. He took the seat that was now vacated and leaned forward, putting his elbows on the table, lacing his hands together and resting his chin atop them.

As the Asari turned around to her new patron, Aria saw the look of shock and fear spread across her face. Aria heard a crackling noise near her and quickly turned towards the Turian spirit that the two of them were drinking from. She saw a small black speck pressed against the bottle, and she picked it up and pressed it. The music from the club started playing through the little chip, but it was much lower and she could hear him as he talked.

"Well, fancy seeing you here Lissandra! I didn't expect you to go all the way here just to hide from little old me" He laughed, smiling up at the horror struck Asari that had stopped her dance to stare down at him. He gestured for her to take a seat, and she quickly did so, maneuvering to the opposite side of the table.

"What… What are you doing here?" The Asari named Lissandra responded to his question. Aria took a seat that allowed her to keep an eye on him as she used his little device that he had left her to spy on their conversation.

"I'm just here to take in the sights, you know how I am with tourist attractions like this one." He joked, waving his hand around to emphasis the club. Aria could tell that the Asari did not believe him; she didn't even believe him with that statement. Lissandra stayed stock still, her eyes glued to him in fear.

"You came for me didn't you? How did you find me, I could have sworn I covered my tracks! I killed anyone that I had contact with, even the delivery guys that brought my food to my apartment." Lissandra confessed, to which Aria raised an eyebrow. ' _So that's what he meant by unusual deaths. I did get a report that a bunch of delivery workers were scared to do their job because of some delivery killer_ ' Aria thought, a grimace gracing her face at the thought of being out of the loop.

"We've been over this Liss, you can't escape me if I come looking for you. Now, I want you to do something for me and it will not be pleasant, but the alternative is a lot more dangerous for you" He said slowly, his smile gone from his face and replaced with a mask of indifference. Lissandra tensed up even more, her eyes searching his face for any type of emotion at all. Then they scanned around for any avenue of escape that she could use. There was none, and she knew it even while she frantically searched for one. In her mind, there was only one option that she still had going for her and it was probably her only way out.

The moment the man reached into his tuxedo to search for whatever he was looking for, she pulled out her Carnifax pistol that she had taped to the bottom of her table, as she did every night, and aimed it squarely at his face. Her finger glided along the trigger and she pulled it, the sound of gunfire erupting through the club, sending people cowering away in panic. Aria cursed under her breath and was about to order Grizz and the rest of her bodyguards to go down there and kill them both, but her mind stopped mid thought upon the words she heard next.

"That wasn't too smart of you now was it?" the man's voice carried over the now silenced club. Aria stared in disbelief as she saw the actual bullets of the Carnifax pistol suspended in mid-air inches from the man's face. He still wore a mask of complete indifference, his hand clutching what looked to be a black box of sorts.

Lissandra stared in disbelief as well, her mouth hanging open in shock and her hand limp against the table. Her pistol was now lying forgotten on the ground after she had released it from her grip. "But, how? That, shouldn't be possible at this range" Lissandra whispered, staring from the bullets to the man in the Tuxedo.

"Quite a few things were not possible in the past, but they are now. And you forget my dear, the first thing I told you when I hired you. I'm Tensai Washikabi, and I make the impossible possible every day" chuckled, laying the black box on the table and watching as the bullets clattered around it. The bullets seemed to gain a life of their own as they rolled around the box until they configured themselves into a heart shape that surrounded it.

"Now, I hired you for a mission Lissandra, and I was very disappointed that you had not completed said mission and even went so far as to abandon it" He spoke calmly, his eyes devoid of warmth to the point that Lissandra actually could not contain the shiver that traveled down her spine. Her eyes kept darting to the small black box that was before her, and she even cringed as he pushed it towards her.

"Now, what I need you to do for me Lissandra is for you to take this box, leave this club and return tomorrow with an answer to what is in there. If I dislike your answer, you don't have to worry about it and can go about your merry way without the threat of me hunting you down again." He said softly, standing from the table and looking down at her with a small smile on his face.

"W-what if I don't look in the box and just decide to run as soon as I get out of here? Lissandra asked, eyes darting from the box to his face, even as her hand danced around the edges of the box. Aria could not see his face as he had turned around and leaned down so that he was eye level with Lissandra. The listening chip she was using seemed to be malfunctioning because she couldn't hear what he said, but she saw the effect it had on the Asari dancer.

Lissandra's back straightened up, her eyes seemed to bulge out of her head, and her mouth hung open. Tensai straightened back up and walked away from the shell shocked Asari back towards Aria's booth. Once he arrived, Aria waved her men off and watching him with an inquisitive look on her face. Tensai for his part smiled at her, before picking up his glass and refilling it with Turian brandy. "Now, I play the waiting game, I hope you don't mind" He said softly, to which Aria found her glare slightly relaxing towards him.

That had been a few years ago, and here he was sitting in that same spot, with a glass of the same Turian spirits he had that day. "You still haven't explained why you are here this time, planning to get shot at in my club again?" Aria asked, standing to her feet and looking down into the crowds of Omega. "Not quite my dear Queen. I'm here because I received quite a surprising message on my Omnitool just the other day." Tensai replied, his hands moving across his Omnitool keyboard.

Aria sighed and chanced a glance at the human beside her, as he sent the message to her own Omnitool. How he had gotten her Omnitool's number she will never know, but it did have its uses for her. She skimmed the message he sent her, and felt herself sneer before closing it and eyeing him. "So you receive a personal message from The Illusive man, and you show me it knowing I have a great dislike for him" Aria growled, only to be met with a smirking Tensai.

"As always you didn't read in between the lines my dear. The Illusive man just tried to recruit me for some Suicidal mission, knowing full well that he and I have a natural loathing of one another. Now I ask you, why do you think that is?" Tensai asked, getting up to pace the booth as he normally does when they talk and he has something to share that she would be interested in. It had become a type of song and dance between the two of them, almost to the point that she didn't want to smear the walls with him on some occasions.

"How should I know, his spies usually kill themselves before I can interrogate them properly" Aria replied, picking up her own drink, something that humans called whiskey that seemed to give her throat a nice burn, and watching the man before her pace. "Finding my Omnitool is hard enough seeing as I scramble its encryption regularly, except of course for a few choice people" Tensai said softly, casting a glance and a wink at Aria, who lazily threw a warp at him to keep him in check, knowing that it wouldn't reach him either way.

"Maybe he wants you to die during this mission, kill two birds with one stone" She replied, taking her seat back on her couch and hanging her head back against the cushions. In truth, she herself was wondering why the Illusive Man would contact him, especially since he had been known to send assassins after Tensai, only for him to dump them right on the nearest scrap heap and strip them of all their augments and weapons. To which Tensai gave freely to Aria and her men, as consolation for the warehouse incident, he always seemed to stress.

"Well, if that was the case then I wouldn't have accepted his request" Tensai said softly, stopping his pacing and smiling at Aria. That caught her attention, and sent her sitting straight up and staring fiercely at him. This wasn't something to joke about, especially since the Illusive man seemed to have no respect for her authority on Omega and she would even go so far as to say that he was plotting to take it from her. So for this man to say he had accepted his request, sent her straight on edge.

"Now hear me out, before you decide to hate my very being even more than you do now. He wants me to go on a suicide mission, something that is evidently a very urgent thing. So urgent, that instead of sending an assassin or a messenger to find me, he would rather go through hundreds of different encryptions and firewalls to contact me directly and personally. Now why would he do that, knowing that I despise him?" Tensai asked, to which Aria cocked an eyebrow for his explanation.

"He wants me to go because he needs this mission to be successful, and out of all the people in the galaxy he chooses me. In that message, he expressed a desire to work with me for the 'Greater Good' of mankind and to safeguard our existence. But the question was, to safeguard it from what exactly." Tensai continued, earning a hesitant nod from Aria.

"After that message, I hacked into one of their servers and read a few of their files, which all seemed to stem towards one conclusion. Human colonies have been going missing for quite some time over the last two years, just after Commander Shephard died to be honest. I think he wants me to go and investigate just what is going on, but he doesn't trust me to do it alone. He wants me to team up with someone whom he has in the works to help find out and stop these attacks" Tensai concluded.

Aria regained her composure and sat back down onto her couch, picking up one of the data pads on her table and pretending to read it. Her mind was processing this information that he was relaying to her, and trying to figure out just what was going on with those human colonies. They had been damn near in the Terminus system when they were hit, so it could have just been raiders. But the Illusive man wouldn't need help if it was simply raiders, so she had to admit that this offer seemed genuine.

"And say you do accept and help him, what then? It's not like you have any more information than he probably does, and he is also still going to try and get you killed. He might even use you to get information about things that only you and your network would know" Aria countered, casting a glance at Tensai. He nodded at her and seemed to come to the same conclusion, and then he shrugged and walked towards the exit.

"If that's true, then the only course of action would be to find out. I'm supposed to meet up with the mercenary Zaeed who is on station already. Then we are to wait till we get picked up by our mysterious friend at the airlock. I'll keep in touch, but remember my dear." Tensai explained, turning slightly to smirk at Aria.

"You don't know me, and I don't know you. Trust me, I wouldn't want to be associated with you any more than I already am human" Aria growled, glancing back down at her data pad as she heard him chuckle and his retreating footsteps. She heard Grizz bark at curse at the leaving human, before stomping into the room. "Why don't we just try and space that punk? He has no respect for you and he just tries to do whatever he wants!" Grizz fumed, to which Aria sighed and put down the data pad. Grizz never liked Tensai, ever since their first meeting, and for the fact that Tensai did things that Grizz couldn't do.

"On this data pad is the location of three people that I sent you to hunt down months ago. He found them in two hours and even left them at a point for us to pick up. That is why I don't just space him, because he can get things done where you can't." Aria explained, taking a sip from her glass and eyeing Grizz. Grizz lowered his head and looked at the data pad in defeat. Even if he hated to admit it, that man was just too good at finding people with little to no information. It was almost like his network was in the seams of the Universe with how quickly he got information.

"I'll send a team to pick them up now, and will do the usual as well" Grizz finally replied, earning a curt nod as Aria stood and stared out over her club. What Grizz wouldn't do to just get rid of that maggot, but he knew that he couldn't get rid of someone that Aria found useful. He would just have to wait, wait until that man outlived his usefulness and then Grizz would gladly pop a few rounds into his head. Just as soon as they figured out how to get past that barrier that he had.


End file.
